Chapter 125

February 12th, 2022

Rory was in her bedroom, sitting on the edge of her bed, shoving the contents of her dresser into a black trash bag labeled "Bedroom". The lingerie drawer was particularly enticing, reminding Rory of a number of cute little pieces that she'd nearly forgotten about. Perhaps it was for the better that she got most of them packed before Logan returned, knowing that they might not get very far if he began to inspect them up close.

"Where do you want these?" Logan asked, having been downstairs to bring up some more boxes, mere seconds later.

It was moving day, or well… at least packing day, the key features they needed to have done on the house having finished the day before. The kitchen was assembled and functional, the couch, while still wrapped in plastic, had been delivered, as had the beds and mattresses. The place still lacked Rory's study desk, but they were both eager to move, hence they'd just agreed to move Rory's current desk until then.

But first the contents of Rory's house needed to be packed up and that was no easy task. Similarly to her mother's house, Rory's house too, contained way more things than she'd remembered, having a slight tendancy towards hoarding.

"Yes, over here is fine, you can start with the books. There should be a bunch of books under the bed and in the bedside table," Rory replied, and carried on to packing up her sock drawer.

Logan complied and sank down on the other side of the bed and began to pull out book after book from under the bed.

Logan's apartment was much more easily packed up and with that he'd nearly finished, having so few things that he'd moved here in the first place. And that even with all the dog gear and Loki, who by the way was now doing much better, distracting Logan by wanting to steal away and chew on most of his belongings.

Logan began from the cupboard part of the bedside table, indeed finding the cupboard stacked full of books much like he'd once seen in Rory's childhood bedroom. There were books by Alberto Manguel, Angela Carter, Mona Awad, Kelly Link, Ashley Poston - amongst others, reminding Logan repeatedly that Rory had such a beautiful brain on top of everything else.

"I have no idea how we will ever finish all of this this weekend," Rory complained, discovering the remains of various past Halloween costumes in the bottom drawer of her dresser. There was just so much to go through. Some things to pack, some to throw away, some do donate… she'd already hoped she'd have time to Marie Kondo her belongings, but it was becoming increasingly clear that would be utterly impossible in the timeframe they had to work with presently.

"You don't need to finish anything," Logan replied sneakily.

Rory cast a questioning look towards him. "What do you mean?" Rory asked, feeling puzzled.

"Well, there might have been a reason why I asked you to start packing in your room first. Though honestly, I'd rather not tell you much more than that," Logan chuckled, having a sneaky smile on his lips.

"What?!" Rory said. She was even more confused now.

"I have movers coming to help tomorrow, today all you need to focus on is packing anything you might perhaps not want someone else see," Logan replied.

"Why didn't you tell me...?" Rory replied, feeling a little relieved. Just thinking about all those books, dishes and toys downstairs made her queasy.

"Because I wasn't supposed to tell you," Logan replied and chuckled quietly.

"Are you losing your memory or just your touch, Huntzberger?" Rory cast a curious look towards him again, and decided to climb across the bed, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind him, and looked at him.

When Rory called him that, the name sounded so harmless to him. She was the only person who'd ever made the name sound cute, sexy... and light.

"Certainly not my memory, and I refuse to believe my touch either," Logan teased, stopped what he was doing and grabbed Rory by her arm and pulled her into his lap. Logan kissed her with full intent, almost thinking of it as if it was his first attempt at this with her - trying to impress her with the softness of his touch.

"What then?" Rory inquired, a little childishly, not allowing to be fully distracted by his attempts that she knew so well. She was just too curious to figure out what he was talking about.

"A little birdie might have told me that there might be a car coming to get you in… four hours," Logan confessed, glancing at the time, and added, "something about the rooms at The Beekman, dinner and a certain appointment tomorrow morning."

"You're kidding!?" Rory reacted, not believing her ears. Truthfully she wasn't at all that surprised by the fact that Honor had decided to do this as a surprise, after all she'd pretty much told her to take charge and Honor was very much like her brother when it came to grand gestures. She just hadn't expected it to happen already this weekend. "But that's got to be a first," Rory replied, pulling herself up to sit beside him.

"What?" Logan asked.

"You… spoiling a surprise like that. I have to say I'm a little disappointed in you," Rory mocked him, making her tone a little more childish intentionally.

"Ah…. I do remember someone once complaining about that one time, no wait - time and time again," Logan added, laughingly. He pushed the box already filled with books aside with his foot and brought forward another, aiming to continue packing.

"Thank you, for telling me," Rory replied, no longer teasingly, indeed appreciating him siding with her, her best interest in mind. "Now I might actually have time to shower first," Rory sighed, and went back to packing her clothes, her mind already thinking towards the prospect of fining the dress.

Both continued packing for a couple of minutes, the proscpect of finishing this room in time actually looking feasible.

"Ah, now this might be exactly the reason we should be the ones packing up this particular room," Logan commented, opening the drawer of her dresser. He knew she kept lube there, tissues and some small items, but it was the vibrator he held in his hand now, having not really been acquainted with her solo preferences until now, that he was speaking about.

"Um… yeah," Rory replied, and swiftly handed him a smaller shoebox to pack those things in. She struggled to fight the blush creeping onto her cheeks. Sure, they were truly intimate with each other by now, nakedness no longer being any issue… but these little things that had been pushed to the back of that drawer - had indeed been left unexplored.

"God, you're so cute like that," Logan observed her, loving when she blushed like that. There were a few more items in that drawer - a small bullet vibrator, a half-opened pack of condoms, even a pair of nipple clamps and a small Wartenberg Wheel, which truly took Logan by surprise. "And all seeing this… I might just have to call my sister and tell her you're going to be joining them tomorrow morning," he added, getting all sorts of ideas. He moved closer, wanting to at least tease her a little more. He held up her chin with his fingers and requested a little kiss which he got.

"Just put those away…," Rory scolded him with a roll of her eyes, feeling a little shy since she had in fact bought a few of those to use with Jess, not just solo. "Now that you told me there'll be movers, there are just a few more places in this house I would rather pack myself than let the movers do it," she explained, thinking of some medical records, documents, her external hard disks and also family pictures.

"Aw.. never thought you to be such a prude," Logan teased, having hoped to explore this path a little further.

"I promise, you'll get to unpack them with me, okay?" Rory insisted, but was definitely enjoying the way his lips were tasting her neck by now.

"You promise?" Logan reflected, huskily, aiming to remind her of that when the moment presented itself.

"I promise," Rory smiled, biting her lip. She held him there for a minute, appreciating both his flirtiness but also the way he'd just proved to be truly on her side. Even if it was just about someone trying to surprise her.

It wasn't that she had anything against sex, not at all - she just had something on her mind and the practicality of wanting to get all this packing done on top of it, those things taking priority in her brain. A woman's brain was difficult to turn off sometimes.

"Listen," Rory began. "I should talk about something with you," she added, changing the mood.

"Sure, what's going on?" he asked, taking a half a step back, and honestly felt a bit concerned, the lightness of their earlier subjects scattering.

"It's nothing to worry about," Rory replied, sensing Logan's tone change. "Max sort of offered me a job, a different kind of job… a summer course in Toronto. It's a job he used to do for years, a guest lecturer position at the University there. Teaching other teachers… He said I'd have a lot of freedom on the topics, and it's two weeks in the beginning of August…," Rory explained. It had been a relief to know at least this offer didn't overlap with their wedding, but she was pretty sure that if she were to consider it, it would at least in part, with their honeymoon.

"Is this something that you want to do?" Logan asked.

"I'm not sure yet, but I just wanted to tell you… It's something else compared to what I've been doing. It seems kind of interesting, and that… I guess if you weren't firmly against it, I might consider it," Rory said, hesitantly, truly now knowing how Logan was going to take it.

To Logan Rory didn't sound as excited as he would've expected to see her had this been something she was truly motivated to undertake, but because she didn't know exactly how long she had known about the offer nor what option she was leaning towards, he just assumed that this was all that it was - her telling him that she was thinking about it.

"Well, okay…," Logan replied, not knowing what to say.

"What? What are you thinking?" Rory asked, having expected more of a reaction from him.

"I think you should be doing what you truly feel like doing," Logan assured.

"You wouldn't be mad if I took it?" Rory inquired.

"Mad? Why would I be mad?" Logan asked, sounding confused. "Sure.. I wouldn't be jumping from joy if it were to interfere with our honeymoon… and surely it'd limit to some longer trips we might want to take, but I'll have by that time all the time in the world to go traveling with you, wouldn't I? So no, I would not be mad," Logan assured.

Rory had actually hoped for more - more of his opinion namely, as she truly was struggling at this point to make up her mind. Surely, it seemed like a bit of a challenge to teach other teachers, to prove to herself that she was actually really good at what she did to a whole other audience who actually knew a thing or two about this field. It would've been a new focus for her in a way, but it didn't really seem to solve anything - not her frustration with her current job nor the lack of time she was already experiencing. In each of her scenarios she was also trying to picture the possibility of having a baby - what would she do if she did get pregnant? Would she really want to continue working at this pace?

"I don't know… sometimes I just get the feeling that you don't really like what I do," Rory admitted a little reluctantly. "Like it's not good enough for me or something," she added.

"Well… It's not how I wanted to come off… I think whatever you do, and do well and enjoy doing is what you should be doing. Sure, I miss seeing you write… seeing you work on your grandmother's story… it's already great I think. But I will never be the one to tell you what you can or should do with your life," Logan explained, not feeling like he could take on that kind of resposibility.

"It's just hard making all these choices. I feel like I've had to make all these decisions… anything from Em's school, to something I would buy or my career… and honestly as I made those, I always just kept thinking about what you'd think of these choices. Even if I didn't fully admit that I did. And I know with things concerning Em I should've thought about Jess but he just always let me make these decisions myself, he let me be the 'manager'. And it was exhausting," Rory described with a sigh. It was the first time she'd come this close to admitting, that deep down she was always seeking for Logan's approval.

"So what is it that you want me to do, exactly?" Logan asked, being a little unsure of what she was asking him.

"I want you to be honest, tell me what you think. Don't worry about if you're crossing a line or feel like you're pushing your opinion on me, because you're not. I just want that honest and constructive criticism from you," Rory explained, recalling so many times he had steered her in the right direction.

"Okay, I promise - from now on I'll tell you every thought that crosses my mind. But you have to promise not to be offended," Logan replied, turning the mood to a lighter one once again. Sure, he really didn't mind a healthy debate with her.

Logan wanted to offer her what she was asking him, but there were also things, opinions… ideas… in him that he knew he couldn't just tell her. They would just hit too close to the nerve, be too similar to the predestined roles a Huntzberger wife would've been expected to fill.

He liked the idea of Rory being home more, taking care of their kids. And yes, he wanted to see her writing but not necessarily as a travelling writer or a bestselling author so it'd take over their lives. He wanted her to succeed but he necessarily didn't see the need for appraisal from the outside world as long as they were happy. He also wanted to feel like Rory and him were a team, maybe even doing a joint business venture someday together. He hated to say it, but Rory was a great assistant - no ordinary assistant who just opened mail and answered phone, not even someone expectional like Marjorie had been, but someone who'd truly be his right hand. Like the great woman behind a successful man, even if that sounded a little patriarchal. But he didn't mean it as anything bad. He just felt she was the kind of support he wanted in whatever he ended up doing - that they'd potentially bring out the best in each-other. He knew her making a great assistant had once been something his father had suggested. Those words had hurt her so deeply that he just knew he'd never be able to suggest something like that.

In his mind these things fit together and complemented one another, in some idealized scenario he was hoping they'd both work from home while juggling work and kids as the perfect team, both also having their individual goals and assignments, in Rory's case her writing, for example. He couldn't be the one to tell her he wanted her to give up what she'd worked for, the career she'd built for herself as a teacher. He could only hope she would somehow get there herself, and realize that was what she wanted too. But he didn't know how to do it...

They both continued to pack, Rory feeling relieved and excited of the weekend to come, but Logan in much deeper, heavier, thoughts.


AN: The reviews are not showing up on the site again, but I'm getting notifications so - yay! Thanks for them. Keep them coming, please!